Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud Comparison
Compare Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
7.9/10
Amazon's public cloud platform, with over 200 pay-as-you-go services for compute, storage, databases, networking and AI, used by startups through large enterprises and governments.
phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud
6.6/10
API-driven single-tenant bare metal servers that deploy in minutes, billed hourly or reserved, for developers and IT teams that need dedicated hardware with cloud-style automation.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | P phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.9/10 | 6.6/10 |
| Analytics | 8/10 | 4/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 5/10 |
| Customization | 10/10 | 8/10 |
| Ease of Use | 4/10 | 6/10 |
| Integration | 10/10 | 8/10 |
| Reliability | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | $39/mo General Purpose (from s0.d1.small) |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free plan | $39/mo General Purpose (from s0.d1.small) |
| Features | ||
| API and CLI | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Object Storage | ||
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| Content Delivery Network | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Dedicated Servers | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud cost by team size
Amazon Web Services (AWS) costs less at every team size we checked.
| Team size | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree plan | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) |
| 5 users | FreeFree plan | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) |
| 10 users | FreeFree plan | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) |
| 25 users | FreeFree plan | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) |
| 50 users | FreeFree plan | $39/moGeneral Purpose (from s0.d1.small) |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Has a free plan (phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud does not)
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: Free vs $39/mo
- Higher Analytics score (8/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Scalability score (10/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (10/10 vs 7/10)
PWhy choose phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud
- Higher Ease of Use score (6/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Support score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Pros
- The service catalogue is unusually broad, with over 200 services across 38 regions, so most infrastructure needs can be met on one platform.
- EC2 has a 99.99% region-level SLA with credits of up to 100%, and instances unavailable for more than six minutes in an hour are not billed for that hour.
- The free plan gives up to $200 in credits, and more than 30 always-free services let new teams experiment at low cost.
- Support scales from a $29 minimum up to dedicated Enterprise and Unified Operations tiers for mission-critical workloads.
- G2 rates it 4.4 across more than 17,000 reviews, and reviewers praise its scalability and global reach.
Cons
- Reviewers widely cite a steep learning curve across the console and services.
- Usage pricing is complex and can produce unexpected bills unless spend is monitored closely.
- Paid support is billed as a percentage of total AWS spend, so support costs rise with usage.
- A July 2025 billing console bug showed customers estimated charges in the billions, which hurt trust in its cost tooling.
PphoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud
Pros
- Servers can be deployed in minutes through the web portal, the REST API, the pnapctl CLI, or Terraform, according to vendor pages and ServeTheHome's hands-on test.
- Hourly billing lets you tear servers down at any time, and reservations cut costs by up to 30 percent.
- A broad catalog includes Xeon 6, ARM, GPU, and Pliops database instances.
- A first deployment includes 15 TB of bandwidth, which servers in the same location can share.
- The portal gives direct iKVM console access for recovering servers that stop responding.
Cons
- Servers are unmanaged by default, so you handle the OS, patches, and security.
- Only six locations are listed, fewer than at the large hyperscalers.
- Pricing is higher than at budget dedicated hosts, because you pay for the automation layer.
- There are few user reviews on G2 and similar sites, and one user reported that billing setup took several attempts.
- No SLA terms were found for Bare Metal Cloud. Third-party listings cite both a 100 percent and a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon Web Services (AWS) scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.9/10 against 6.6/10 for phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud. The largest gap is in Analytics: 8/10 for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and 4/10 for phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) costs less for 10 users: free on its Free plan, against about $39/mo on its General Purpose (from s0.d1.small) plan for phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud, billed monthly.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a free plan; phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud does not list one.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the better fit for enterprise: we rate it 10/10 for them, against 7/10 for phoenixNAP Bare Metal Cloud.
